Sashi - if it makes you feel better, Vitamin C hasn't been shown to reduce the length of colds. But zinc gluconate has! Can you get zinc lozenges? And if you want to use Emergen-C, I can't even fathom how that would be a problem, it's just water soluble vitamins and coloring/flavoring, right? Have you tried Breathe Easy or Throat Coat tea? Sorry you're sick! Do you think it's just a cold or something else?

I haven't really tried anything besides the normal lots of fluids, tea, etc. I get all paranoid about take unnecessary stuff while pregnant. My prenatals have zinc and I'm afraid anymore will make me nauseas. But maybe I will try it. I'm pretty sure it's just a bad cold. Andy just got home so I am now sitting in a steamy bathroom. Poor Ada is going cuckoo from being stuck inside all day.

Leela never likes blankets on her while she sleeps. I will put them on surreptitiously, because its just so freaking cold, and she semi-wakes struggles to get them off, cries and needs to be nursed to sleep. She will tolerate 2 piece jammies but not the footed ones, esp not the fleecy footed ones. She also won't tolerate a sleep sack and she moves so much at night it wouldn't be practical amyway. So I worry about her getting cold? Is this normal? I keep our house at 66F normally (feels cold to me) but now have it at 68F. We cosleep so she does get my warmth.

In Chinese medicine the thought it that you have to keep your kid warm or they won't grow (bc they are using their energy to keep warm).

Thanks for your thoughts!

I just read this, grey also hates blankets, but he does wear footed pjs. We keep the house at 70, but he is usually warm. Is leela cool to the touch? Grey definitely runs hot, all the other kids around here wear so many more layers than he does and he is always warm. If she feels cool or is waking cause she is cold then I would worry about it. Grey also sleeps on his own in just a footed jammy. He is 90th percentile for height, so no worries about growth!

Thanks! And woohoo for being in the 90%!

Last night we turned the heat up and she slept through the night, so we're going to try that again, in case the latest bouts of sleepless nights and midnight nursings are bc she is cold....

You could also try a heated mattress pad if you don't want to keep the heat up. I use a heating blanket on my feet (terrible circulation) and it really helps me to sleep.

I've put some oil in the bath with my kids when they were babies, but that was pretty much because I got some scented baby bath oil for free. I also hardly ever bathe my kids, and almost never did when they were babies (I made my own butt-spray and used that a lot, though, but topping and tailing/spot cleaning is pretty different from a bath). But definitely, if you're not cool with greasy bath water, skip it! :D

I've never tried EmergenC, but I've read the only vitamin supplement you really need to avoid during pregnancy is vitamin A because it can cause birth defects. (Slightly OT, but funny -- my MIL does not and has never done vitamin supplements (my husband never did until recently when he tested low for vitamin D), so when I was pregnant and she saw me taking a prenatal, she asked me if I was still allowed to eat vegetables and fruit!!

Cool, we'll hold off on the soap for a while. I don't feel any big urge to use it, just wondered about that.

Although today, at baby swimming, as she floated around on her tummy with her lifted head at my eye level, I could suddenly see all this ick in her neck folds. So I am a slacker mom as far as getting her squeaky clean goes. Hopefully nobody else saw.

Although today, at baby swimming, as she floated around on her tummy with her lifted head at my eye level, I could suddenly see all this ick in her neck folds. So I am a slacker mom as far as getting her squeaky clean goes. Hopefully nobody else saw.[/quote]

We continue to discover new pockets of grossness we hadn't been paying much attention to before. First I was horrified to discover that I hadn't been getting behind his scrotum squeaky clean, then we went to the pediatrician and she was nonchalantly cleaning little white crusts off of the base of his weenis. Seriously I felt HORRIBLE. Then the neck cheese was discovered - we wipe it off with water twice a day and then apply some diaper cream to keep the red away from too much moisture. Just recently we found some areas in the posterior thigh rolls we had missed. The hazards of a fluffy baby and new parents I guess.

I hope you're feeling better by now, sashi! I just saw your post about getting sick after dim sum. We seem to be okay over here, but thanks for the warning!

Phew, that's good! Ada is fine, it was like a 12 hour sore throat but nothing else. Although today she has started coughing a little. I am awful. Thank goodness it's the weekend because I have been in and out of sleep coughing and a steamy bathroom all day. I just hope it gets a little better by Monday. I have my anatomy scan and have been super excited for it!

We use soap. We have all along. They showed us at the hospital how to bathe and the nurse used one drop of soap in a little bowl, so that is how we have done it. We never use soap on her face, though. Babynut does not have dry skin and we have never used oil or lotion. I can see why you would want to avoid excessive soap if there was a dry skin issue. Also the soap we use is very gentle baby wash.

I am awful. Thank goodness it's the weekend because I have been in and out of sleep coughing and a steamy bathroom all day. I just hope it gets a little better by Monday. I have my anatomy scan and have been super excited for it!

Oh no! I hope you feel better soon. And OMG ANATOMY SCAN! I can't believe how fast time is flying. And you're going to see BabyG!

Is it different seeing the ultrasounds the second pregnancy? Do you get more of a sense of what the bits are? I was just always like "OMG ITS A PERSON! IN MY BELLY!"

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

The ears! I never understood the cliche about the mom telling her kids to wash behind their ears until I looked behind my kids' ears.[/quote]

YES - that was one we discovered too - and the ear crust that had built up back there didn't just wipe away - it took some scrubbing at more then one bath! I probably sounds like the dirtiest mother ever but this is truth people! I bathed the child every day since his cord fell off and still he was filthy ;)

Audrey- our velcro swaddler says on it to stop binding the arms once baby can roll over- that makes sense to me because they could roll onto tummy and without use of arms not be able to roll back onto their back.

Scandina- we put a little oil in the bath water. last time we were in DK i bought a bottle of neutral brand baby bath oil at matas, we otherwise just use olive oil. it's not enough to be dangerous or slippery. we were told to only use oil until child is old enough to actually be dirty. the water that we use to wash littlemap's bum is hot water plus a spray of baby soap plus a couple drops of oil. because i bought a huge bottle of dr bronners baby soap before i knew we weren't supposed to use it, so i needed to find something to do with it :).

we use soap now but didn't for a few months. once he started getting actually dirty is when we started using it. even now I just was his hair because he rubs food in it then wash is boy parts and bum with it in the bath. once in a while I will scrub his feet or something with soap but usually try not to use much. we use California baby soap and seems really gentle an I love the smell of it.

My husband was asking when you should stop being naked in front of your kids.

I think it depends on the family and everyone's comfort level, but I know kids are also really curious. My nieces had never seen their Dad's "Wooly" and were obsessed with catching a glimpse of it. So maybe not showing it makes it feel even more weird and taboo? I dunno.

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

Kids kind of let you know when nakedness starts to matter to them. I'd say in the 3-4 range. We don't make nakedness taboo, but just for showers and changing. Silas still showers with me sometimes, asked what is that a few times, got clinical names for body parts and the didn't care anymore. Probably soon, he'll only shower with his dad. I think it's good to model normal scenarios for nakedness and not make it shameful.

Kids kind of let you know when nakedness starts to matter to them. I'd say in the 3-4 range. We don't make nakedness taboo, but just for showers and changing. Silas still showers with me sometimes, asked what is that a few times, got clinical names for body parts and the didn't care anymore. Probably soon, he'll only shower with his dad. I think it's good to model normal scenarios for nakedness and not make it shameful.

When do kids want to stop being naked? It is really hard to get B and R to wear (under)pants around the house. I am trying to teach them they need (under)pants if they want to see any deliverymen, but they don't get why. Also, it's friggin' cold in here, why don't they want trousers?!!

Kids kind of let you know when nakedness starts to matter to them. I'd say in the 3-4 range. We don't make nakedness taboo, but just for showers and changing. Silas still showers with me sometimes, asked what is that a few times, got clinical names for body parts and the didn't care anymore. Probably soon, he'll only shower with his dad. I think it's good to model normal scenarios for nakedness and not make it shameful.

When do kids want to stop being naked? It is really hard to get B and R to wear (under)pants around the house. I am trying to teach them they need (under)pants if they want to see any deliverymen, but they don't get why. Also, it's friggin' cold in here, why don't they want trousers?!!

Ha! I know Greyis much younger, but man, he fights pants so hard already! He will bring me his shoes and coat and I will tell him we can only go outside with pants on and then he would rather stay inside! What a weirdo. Once the pants are in, he is fine. He also really likes ine piece pajamas. Maybe that is the trick, only pajamas!

Shae stopped wanting to be naked when he was 4 1/2, not long before. He started school. It was odd, all out of the blue, wanted to change alone, so we just went with it. Silas has never been a huge fan of being naked but he isn't self conscious either (just over 4 years old). Probably just depends on the kid!

We don't hang out naked or anything, but Walter sees his dad and me getting changed or in and out of the shower all the time. No big deal. And if it were up to him, he'd wear nothing but his firefighter helmet 24/7.

E would still (at 3 and some change) rather be naked all the time than anything else. I'm convinced he doesn't experience cold in a normal way... My in-laws house was chilly while we were visiting (they and I were bundled up in multiple sweaters) and E was happily prancing around nude for hours at a time.